Abstract
IT is a well-known fact that colour sensations can be produced by intermittent white light (the so-called subjective colour phenomenon of Fechner1 and Benham2). This phenomenon has been investigated by us by means of a physiological method described in detail in a previous paper3. The electrical sensitivity of the dark-adapted eye was measured at varying intervals after exposure for 2 sec. of the central fovea to a pre-illuminating patch of 1° in visual angle. After removal of the light stimulus, the excitability recovers very rapidly, becomes supernormal and then decreases to the initial level. The maximum of supernormality lies at 1, 1.5, 2 and 3 sec. when red, yellow, green and blue lights are used for preillumination. The broken curves in Fig. 1 are examples of excitability curves for white light, which have a maximum at about 2 sec.
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References
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MOTOKAWA, K., EBE, M. Retinal Colour Processes caused by Intermittent White Light. Nature 170, 79–80 (1952). https://doi.org/10.1038/170079a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/170079a0
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